Despite an American fascination with big things, the key to unlocking renewable energy is found in small packages as well as big ones. And one key to understanding the debate is to understand the players, with incumbent utility companies (and their incentive to build big things to make money) playing an outsize role in the debate over the right size of wind and solar.
Cities aren’t energy islands but can still take advantage of more wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal and other forms of clean energy.
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It has been revealed this week that the European Commission has approved France’s request to develop three separate schemes that are intended to support the development of more than 17 gigawatts worth of new renewable energy capacity.
With the surprise UK general election only a few weeks away, the country’s renewable energy trade organisations are rushing to add their voices to the mix, laying out renewable energy “manifestos” and “plans” and “visions” for the resulting UK government to implement upon victory.
Origin Energy has set a stunning new benchmark for renewable energy off-take deals in Australia – and sounded the alarm for energy incumbents – after committing to a long-term power purchase agreement of below $60/MWh for the 530MW Stockyard Hill Wind Farm in Victoria.
As governments are focusing increasingly on industrial growth strategies, offshore wind is becoming a double win for policymakers, says Ray Thompson, Head of Business Development at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.
The question of scale economies in solar has been both a technological and an economic one. As mentioned before, the contention in the late 2000s was that concentrating solar thermal power plant technology would outstrip solar photovoltaics (PV) because the latter was marginally more efficient (at the point of generation) and could incorporate energy storage.
Spanish wind energy giant Gamesa, in its last quarter as an independent company, reported stellar performance for the first quarter of 2017, with revenues increasing by 45% and sales totaling nearly 1,500 megawatts.
A new research note from MAKE Consulting has confirmed what many have said before, the record low prices being awarded at renewable energy auctions across the world throughout 2016 and 2017 are indicative of the increasing competitiveness of renewable energy technologies globally.
